


Imaginary Numbers

by Brennan4



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, Yuya has ADHD, boring math shit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-23
Updated: 2019-08-23
Packaged: 2020-09-24 15:38:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20360932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brennan4/pseuds/Brennan4
Summary: Shun is a boring, grumpy math nerd assigned to tutor a strange, enthusiastic student named Yuya Sakaki. Shenanigans ensue.





	Imaginary Numbers

**Author's Note:**

> Remember, in the Arc V manga Shun is canonically a math nerd.

Shun Kurosaki was, uncharacteristically, running late. He usually prided himself on being early, to the point that he could tell it irritated some people. But here he was, powerwalking into the library as fast as he could without attracting attention to himself. He was only a few minutes past the meeting time, but it was enough to put him in a bad mood. This was his first time tutoring this student, and in fact his first time tutoring at all. He didn’t even really want to take the position but Kaito had said it would be good for him and he could use the money. But now he was already getting off on the wrong foot. He hoped this would not affect his credibility with his new student. 

He also hoped he didn’t look to ridiculous walking as fast as possible through the library with a furious look on his face. 

When he got to the agreed upon meeting room, nobody else was there. Had the student already assumed he was not coming and left? Or was he running even more late than Shun? The latter seemed more likely, as the math department was only assigning him to students with academic difficulties. Then Shun heard a voice from under the table. 

“Down here!” 

Shun looked down and realized there was somebody else in the room. This somebody was on the floor, doing the splits. 

“Um, hello,” said Shun, grateful his usual demeanor did not betray how perplexed he was right now. 

“You must be my new math tutor,” said the flexible boy on the floor. He was wearing a bright pink shirt with a cartoon hippo on it. Shun felt a little out of place, wearing a beige jacket, beige pants, and a brown shirt. 

“Sorry if I kept you waiting…” 

The boy giggled. “No problem. I was just stretching while I waited. I’m Yuya Sakaki. ”

“You’re awfully, uh, flexible.”

Yuya beamed. “Thanks! I just wish my brain was as flexible as my body. I really got hosed on my last test. "

Shun set down a College Algebra textbook and a notepad. “Let’s get started. What are you having trouble with?” 

Yuya sighed. “Honestly everything. I just can’t get my head around this math stuff. But I need it for my exercise science program, so here we are.”

“It would help if there was somewhere specific we could start.” 

Yuya flipped open the textbook and searched for a chapter. “Lately Professor Akaba has been teaching us about imaginary numbers, and I just don’t get it at all.” 

“Well that’s not too bad,” said Shun. “What about them is confusing you?”

Yuya threw up his hands. “The whole thing! How can a number be imaginary?”

Shun sighed. “They aren’t really imaginary, it’s just kind of a confusing name. It really means numbers that involve the square root of negative one.”

How do you take the square root of negative one?” asked Yuya, apparently considering the problem for the first time. 

“You can’t, that’s the issue. So what you do is pretend that you can, and hope it gets squared somewhere later down the line.” 

“Oh, that actually makes a ton of sense!” exclaimed Yuya, at a volume a bit higher than what is acceptable in the library. “Professor Akaba talked about them for 3 hours this week and none of what he said made as much sense as that.” 

Shun allowed himself a rare smile. “Professor Akaba can be a bit long winded, can’t he.” 

“You’re telling me. I appreciate how smart the guy is, but his teaching does NOT go well won’t my ADHD.” 

“Well, he won’t change anytime soon, so we’ll have to work through most of this together.” 

Yuya shrugged. “I guess it would help if I knew why this stuff is important for later in life.” 

“Oh, it’s not.” 

This got a gasp out of Yuya. “Really?” 

“Yeah, most mathematics education in this country focuses on areas that aren’t really relevant to students’ future, but you don’t realize this until you get to the higher level class and they teach you how everything actually works.” 

“So you’re telling me that what I’m learning is BS, but if I get to higher classes they’ll teach me the super secret real math?”

“Yeah, they should be starting us out with stuff like set theory in elementary school, but instead they focus on stuff important to engineering and military equipment, because the government picks the curriculum.” 

“So are the imaginary numbers really imaginary?”

“Yes.” There was something entertaining about how disappointed Yuya was with that answer. 

* * *

Shun didn’t know why he kept coming to the mathematics department lounge. Almost nobody other than Reiji or Kaito was ever there, and they rarely said anything. Even worse, if they did it was usually a distraction. Reiji was particularly guilty of this, throwing out topics from his history, philosophy, or business classes, dragging Shun into a discussion he wasn’t informed enough to participate in. If he wanted to get his work done he might as well stay at home. 

Yet apparently even someone as prickly and introverted as Shun needed human interaction every once in a while. Kaito and Reiji were the only people on campus that could stand him. He had been told he was ‘cold’, ‘grumpy’, and ‘frighteningly passionate about reforming society.’ So here he was, with the only people as icy as he was. 

He pulled up a chair and got to work without even making eye contact with Reiji or Kaito. Reiji was reading some thick book with people wearing powdered wigs on the front, while Kaito was tinkering with some mechanical contraption. It was probably part of one of his robots. Shun was a few pages into his homework before the two acknowledged he was there. Then a gear sprung off of whatever Kaito was working on and flew across the room, knocking over Shun’s coffee. 

Reiji responded to the incident with a slight chuckle, while all Kaito offered as a shrug that could be described as apologetic if one was feeling charitable. 

“How was your week?” asked Reiji. He had his usual ‘cat watching the canary’ grin. 

“Busy, as always,” said Shun, mopping up the spilled coffee. 

“See any cool birds?” 

“Too rainy.” Shun really kind of hoped that would end the conversation, but Reiji pushed further. 

“You started tutoring this week, right? How did that go.” 

“Alright. The kid’s pretty weird. He was wearing bright pink and doing the splits when I arrived.”

Reiji smiled. “That must be Yuya. I’ve seen him in my dad’s class.”

“I’ve seen him too,” said Kaito, completely refusing to acknowledge the coffee incident. “I think he’s in the drama program.” 

“He told me he was into exercise science.”

“It’s both,” said Reiji. Shun could tell that he knew Yuya better than he was letting on and was a little annoyed at the deception. “I saw him in the college’s production of Romeo and Juliet. He was Mercutio, and he gave the role a jubilant energy that was…”

“I’m gonna cut you off there,” said Shun. “You’re not dragging me into another literature discussion.”

* * *

Shun was proud to be perfectly on time for his next meeting with Yuya, but to his surprise Yuya was already waiting for him. He was wearing something a little less ridiculous this time, though still colorful. A bright green polo shirt with red sleeves. It kind of matched his hair, but also had a borderline Christmassy look to it. Yuya was sitting up straight in his chair, twiddling his thumbs. 

Shun did his best to disguise his annoyance at the fact that Yuya was clearly waiting for him. “So, where should we start this week.”

Yuya smiled, as if he had been waiting for Shun to ask that question. “I read the whole unit this week and did all my homework already. And we don’t have a quiz this week so there’s nothing to study for.”

Shun raised an eyebrow. “Alright, then I guess we could go over some topics from older chapters…”

Yuya cut him off by putting his hand on Shun’s shoulder. “Or you could take the next hour to go hang out with me.” 

“Did you do all your work and read ahead so that you could spend time with me?”

Yuya nodded enthusiastically.

“Why?” asked Shun.

“Because you’re interesting. I like interesting people.”

“I’m really not.” 

“Then prove me wrong,” said Yuya. “Come hang out with me and I’ll decide if you’re boring.” 

Shun shrugged. “Sure, why not?”

For neither the first nor the last time, he wondered what he was getting into with Yuya Sakaki.


End file.
